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Credit card fraud...

ossumguywill

ossumguywill

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So, I went to check on one of my bank accounts for the first time in a while... Much to my surprise, creditreport.com had been charging me $15 a month for two months now and I was less than a dollar away from going to a negative balance (a big-ass charge is incurred if this happens). Funny thing is, that account isn't even linked to a credit card (only a debit card, so no point in getting a credit report) and I've never been to creditreport.com in my life... :thinking:

Somehow they got ahold of my debit card #, and these assholes have been secretly charging me for a while now. Look around the internet, I'm not the only person this has happened to.

I also appear to have an unknown charge for around $10 from paypal, but the charge type is "direct debit", which I have never seen from paypal (or anyone) before... somehow I question the validity of this charge. Now I'm all pissed off and I have to wait until monday before any of the customer service phone lines open up. :gun: The only company I can call right now is my bank, and I'd rather not have to file a claim.

I guess I just had to rant, and has this happened to anyone here before? Any advice?
 





No doubt about it. You were scammed and caught their hands in your cookie jar. Let us know how that goes. :)
 
millirad said:
No doubt about it. You were scammed and caught their hands in your cookie jar. Let us know how that goes. :)
Click to expand...

My bank says the easiest way is to call them first to see if I can get a refund... Of course, I'm going to report them to whomever I can no matter what happens, if they refuse to give me a refund chances are I can get my bank to block any transactions from them by default, not just for myself. That would be nice. :D I'm getting on the phone right now.
 
I have used their service before. Did you ever get free credit report from them? That is how I started. They give you a free credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies. By doing this though, they sign you up for that service for a certain price per month and you have to cancel it.
 
Kevlar said:
I have used their service before. Did you ever get free credit report from them? That is how I started. They give you a free credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies. By doing this though, they sign you up for that service for a certain price per month and you have to cancel it.
Click to expand...

That is the first thing I thought... but then I realized that a week or so before these charges started, I basically had no internet connection, so that would have been unlikely. I searched all my email accounts, spam included, and found nothing from them. I don't recall ever getting a report of any kind either, and I KNOW I've never been to their website. If I wanted to get a credit report, I know that there's a legitimate .gov website that will do it for free. (ftc.gov) So no, I've never agreed to get a report.

Creditreport.com asked for more information than they possibly had from me when I called them, so I basically gave them the finger. I gave them my name and debit card, which they obviously already had (somehow), but then they asked for my social security. My SS is not something I give out lightly, so I just went to my bank. They were great about it, they cancelled my current debit card and are sending me a new one as well as some legal forms.

Also, the paypal charge was my mistake, I accidentally charged my paypal balance a bit more than I had, so that's why the charge to my bank didn't match up with my personal records. Customer service was very nice (Cool accent too! He sounded like Fabio.).
 
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Some disreputable retail merchants have click trick contracts where when you order something if you don't read the fine print, or opt-out, they sign you up for a "free" service that they get a HUGE commission on.

If you use your credit card directly to pay for stuff from online merchants that are not big players, you should see if your credit card offers virtual numbers. They allows you to set up a virtual card that is only valid for a few months, and the authorization limit is set by you.

So if you are ordering a $20 laser from some company you have no experience with you can make a virtual card with a $25 limit that is only valid for 2 months.
 
Sounds like they got your info and ran a credit check to see if they could make a pile of cash off you. If you dont good enough credit, they just move on.
 
TeufelWolf-I don't recall using my debit card on any merchants that aren't highly trusted (e.g. amazon or 4sevens), but it's very possible (Sometimes amazon forwards your purchase to someone else, maybe I got a shitty merchant?). I tend to use paypal for shadier stuff, and I never use "gift" payments to purchase something (so I have at least some recourse).

@IF-That's probably true, but I just wonder who gave them my CC info, and which SS# did they provide them with?
 
I sell on Amazon as a merchant - they never forward CC info to us, at least for Marketplace sales.

But companies have data breaches all the time, and often they don't know when they have a breach, or they don't report the breach.

Do you use your debit card for point of sale purchases? There has been a big uptick in harvesting POS info from the card readers by adding extra hardware to the readers.
 
TeufelWolf said:
I sell on Amazon as a merchant - they never forward CC info to us, at least for Marketplace sales.

But companies have data breaches all the time, and often they don't know when they have a breach, or they don't report the breach.

Do you use your debit card for point of sale purchases? There has been a big uptick in harvesting POS info from the card readers by adding extra hardware to the readers.
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Good to know... and I haven't used my CC in a POS purchase in many months now. I guess a data breach is a possibility.
 
I hate those F**kers-thier ads about 'free' credit scores are bullshit- just like the Co.s that give you free/cheap stuff but the fine print has huge S&H-- ripoffs!!

Same deal with reunions dawt com-classemates dawt com and on and on. you can make up a total BS name and enter it into 'see who is looking for you Dawt com' and they will come back that 3 freinds are looking for you and just as soon as you sign up(pay-up) that will send you thier names -- BULL

One 80 yr old guy signed up in hopes of reuniting with old classmates only to find those names sent to him were of old classmates now dead for many years-- they just find names from yearbooks and scam scam scam-- shame on them!!!
Millions of $$ are scammed from the elderly when they sign up for the 'convience' of auto bill pay-- easy to sign up nearly impossible un-do it. My dads insurance Co continued to steal 48$ a month for 6 months after we told them that his home has been sold while taking the same from the new owners- we had to threaten lawsuits four times just to get them to remove thier hands from Dads pockets- how many tens of thousands of elderly do not even know they are being robbed every month.

We are still waitng on the refund- 4 months now!!!

they invest your money and hate to give it back

BEWARE

check your grandparents bank statements and CCs. EVERY MONTH

and dont think that one phone call will stop them-
 
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ossumguywill said:
@IF-That's probably true, but I just wonder who gave them my CC info, and which SS# did they provide them with?
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Anyone can get a hold of your CC info. Every time you use it, it leaves a record. You might even have a virus. Your SS number is a public record, so it was probably yours.
 
People can just get the last 4 of your SS? That doesn't sound correct, every single bank verifies you that way... And yes, I'm aware I leave a record but I doubt amazon got hacked. Maybe one of the smaller trusted retailers. I don't think I have a virus on the macbook... And honestly, I'm not sure how likely it is that some asshole is monitoring all of my form data just to steal $30.
 
Anything regarding credit, bills, insurance, etc. You have to document. Most 1st line CSRs are paid either min wage or they are salespeople who get dinged if they process a cancellation.

Phones calls offer no protection because there is no record (you can't legally record a call to a company in many jurisdiction). Most CSRs are told to use fake names (like all the India tech support dudes for Dell who are named "Mike".
 
There are ways to get all the info they need, for a price. Also they could of hacked into your wireless network, cell phone, of cordless home phone.

People still dont realize THERE IS NO PRIVACY anymore. Read the Patriot Act. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is private.

They checked you out to see if you had a high credit rating. If you did, they would of pulled up a pile of credit cards and milked your credit for what its worth. Once they found out your credit was not worth it, they bailed.
 
Again, what you are saying has merit (I have "stolen" my own credit card number and bank info many times by hijacking my encrypted web sessions), but what most people don't realize is it's not worth the time unless there is a big payoff. I got ripped of $30. It's enough for me to care, but not enough that some hacker in russia gives a crap. It's true, you can get what you need "for a price", but not this price.

Also, as for my credit rating, I don't even think I HAVE one. It's a freaking debit card, and as a minor I've never taken out a loan, bought a house, etc.

@TW
This is all true, but all of my orders with a CC are over the internet... Not so easy to steal, and I know the basic tricks.
 
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